


Finding Our Way Home

by kenzz_95



Series: Trektober 2020 [17]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Memory Loss, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:42:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27088819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kenzz_95/pseuds/kenzz_95
Summary: The Enterprise encountered a strange alien glow cloud who introduced itself as the "guardian of the time portal" and that was pretty much the last thing Jim remembered before waking up in the early 21st century. It doesn't take long for him to find his husband, but he quickly realizes that Bones has no memory of him or their own time period, and is convinced he's always been in that time period. Stuck in a strange century with only a husband who doesn't recognize him for company, Jim is pretty much on his own as he tries to figure out a way to get them home.
Relationships: James T. Kirk/Leonard "Bones" McCoy
Series: Trektober 2020 [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948633
Comments: 17
Kudos: 30
Collections: Trektober 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Trektober Day 18: Amnesia
> 
> Well, it finally happened. I had a story idea that in no way is going to fit in a single one shot. So this is just the first chapter, and I'll finish this after Trektober.
> 
> Also, this is less amnesia and more alien glow cloud induced memory loss, which feels similar enough for me to use it for today.

Jim walked quickly through the halls of the hospital, hoping the “if you act like you belong then people won’t bother you” principal would apply here as well. He scanned the faces of the staff he passed in the hallway, men and women in old fashioned scrubs and lab coats. Bones had to be here, he  _ had _ to be. Jim would put money on it. That is, if he had any. 

They had ran into some weird floating alien cloud in space claiming to be “the guardian of the time portal”. Said “guardian” had been blocking their way to a ship issuing a distress call and...well, one moment he was trying to talk the entity into letting them pass and then next thing he knew the world was spinning and Jim was blinking up at blue sky and lying on hard ground. That had been a week ago. In the subsequent week, he was not any closer to being able to contact the Enterprise nor finding his crew, but at least he knew where he was. San Francisco, early 21st century, pre world war 3 but not by much. He didn’t actually know if anyone from his crew was here with him, but he wasn’t yet ready to accept that he was alone here yet. So he spent evenings hustling pool in various bars in order to afford a room and food for the next day and his days searching the city for anyone he recognized. He hadn’t been having a lot of luck so far. Which was to say he hadn’t been having any. Which was how he ended up at the hospital.

The way Jim saw it, if Bones was  _ anywhere _ in this city in this time, he would have found his way to the busy, underfunded and understaffed public hospital. Jim knew his husband, knew the other man would’ve immediately sought out the place he could do the most good as soon as he realized rescue wasn’t going to be a simple affair, and from what Jim was able to determine that was here. He was going to find Bones and Bones was going to bitch about the inhumanity of for-profit medicine and then...well, he wasn’t sure if that would actually help them get home, but at least they would be together.

He wandered the hospital hallways for hours, not seeing hide nor hair of the person he was looking for. Just as he was wondering if maybe he should camp out near the entrance to try to catch Bones coming or going, he rounded a corner and nearly ran into a familiar man with dark hair, broad shoulders, and dark hazel eyes. Thank God.

“Bones!” Jim exclaimed, making a beeline for his husband, who was wearing those same old fashioned scrubs that were ubiquitous around here. Bones looked up at him, scowled, and said,

“Orthopedics are on the 3rd floor.”

“Hilarious, Bones,” Jim rolled his eyes, but something stopped him from pulling the other man into a hug. Bones didn’t look nearly as relieved to see him as he should’ve been, and it was setting off red alert alarms in Jim’s brain.

Bones looked Jim over, studying him as his eyebrows raised further to his hairline, then when he finally spoke what he said just about broke Jim’s heart.

“Do I know you?” he asked, tone completely serious. Jim’s stomach fell to the floor. There wasn’t a hint of humor or sarcasm or even  _ recognition _ anywhere in those hazel eyes, shining forest green against the backdrop of light green scrubs and artificial light. Just confusion, exasperation, and exhaustion. Jim felt like he was going to throw up. Bones really didn’t remember him. Whatever the “guardian” had done when they were sent back here, it had whipped Bones’ memories. Of everything or just of Jim, he wasn’t sure yet.

“Hey, man, are you okay?” Bones asked because of course he did. Even in some twisted world where Jim was just another face in the hallway to him, Bones cared about everyone who seemed like they were having a hard time. And Jim was gaping and he was sure the hurt was visible in his eyes, so it didn’t exactly take an empath to figure out he wasn’t having the best day of his life. God, he’d always prided himself on his ability to think on his feet but he was drawing a blank on how to handle this situation. 

“I’m fine,” he finally lied. He had to snap out of it. Bones was here, he was alive, that’s what mattered. Anything else could be fixed. “You’re Dr. Leonard McCoy.”

“Good, glad to know you can read,” Bones drawled and oh yeah, he had a badge with his name clipped on his pocket. How had he gotten one of those so quickly?

“I need to talk to you, alone. When are you off shift?”

“I’m just gettin’ off now. Why? What do you need? Were you my patient at some point?”

It looked like Bones was trying to wrack his brain to recognize Jim. It hurt, but Jim tried to ignore that. He had a mission. Sure, he didn’t have a  _ plan _ , but he’d figure that out along the way. He usually did.

“No,” he said, then remembered all the times Bones had patched him up, fixed him,  _ brought him back to life _ , and amended, “Sort of. Look, I just really need to talk to you, please. Do you have an apartment or something?”

It wouldn’t make sense for Bones to have an apartment here, but a lot of things didn’t make sense right now so he figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

“I do not have an apartment because I’m not 25, I have a house and I’m not inviting a weird man I just met to it, nor am I going anywhere with you. If you’ve got something to say, say it here,” Bones insisted. Jim briefly got stuck on the whole house thing. He wondered what Bones’ house would look like. Someday, if they could get the hell out of this mess and get back to their own century, he may find out. Bones looked down at Jim’s left hand then raised his eyebrows, “How’s your spouse gonna feel when they find out you’re inviting yourself to strangers’ houses?”

Jim couldn’t help but laugh a little at the pure irony of all that. But this was serious, he had to think of some way to convince Bones that they knew each other. That may not be easy, what with not knowing how long Bones had been here much less how long Bones  _ thought _ he’d been here, but he was going to do his best. Luckily he knew his husband pretty damn well.

“Your middle name is Horatio. It was your grandpa’s name and you hate it so much you’ve considered having it legally changed but deemed it too much trouble. You’ve known you were going to be a doctor since you can remember. You graduated top of your class at medical school. You play a mean game of poker. The very idea of for-profit medicine offends you. You have an ex-wife named Jocelyn and a daughter named Joanna who you miss every day. You pretend to hate when people shorten your name but you’re actually fine with Len or Leo but if anyone tries to call you ‘Lenny’ there’s hell to pay. You like to bake when you’re stressed, you taught yourself how to be ambidextrous in middle school, you have unreasonably strong opinions on peaches, you always order your coffee black but you secretly prefer it with cream and a little squeeze of caramel in it, you’re terrified of flying, you’re always losing the toenail on your left second toe if you have to run for more than like 10 kilometers at the time,  _ and _ ,” it was time for Jim to play his trump card, “You got drunk in college and got the outline of the state of Georgia tattooed on your right ass cheek and you always say you’re going to get it removed but secretly don’t hate it even though if that got out you’d probably just die.”

Now Bones was gaping at him, no doubt wondering how this so-called stranger knew all these things about him. Then Bones grabbed him by the wrist and, without so much as a word, shoved them both in a supply closet that smelled deeply of something that was probably old-timey antiseptic. Now, Jim was no stranger to getting pulled into closets by his husband. It was somewhat of a favored move by the other man. Usually it resulted in Jim being yelled at, or kissed senseless, or, when Bones was in an odd mood, both at the same time. But this time Bones said nothing for a long while, just stared at him, and he certainly wasn’t kissing him either. Finally, still gaping, he breathed,

“Who the hell are you?”

“My name is Jim Kirk. You’re Leonard McCoy. I call you Bones. You’re, among other things, the best friend I’ve ever had, but something is wrong and I need you to trust me.”

As it turns out, Jim was going to get to see what Bones’ house looked like. Somewhat begrudgingly, Bones showed him to his car and drove him to a charming but modest home outside of San Francisco. Bones had declared he didn’t want to hear anymore of Jim’s “weird bullshit” while he was driving, so they mostly sat in silence as classical music played over the car’s sound system. Traffic was insane, it made Jim understand why ground cars had been largely phased out. Sitting in Bones’ car not speaking for a full hour was intensely painful, especially because he was used to silences with Bones being impossibly comfortable. He hated this, oh how he hated this. Bones had always been the one constant in his life, ever since they’d met, and this Bones without his memories was really throwing him. He had to remind himself that this wasn’t forever, that they’d figure out a way to fix this, especially as they drove and he had to restrain himself from placing a hand on his husband’s thigh.

Bones’ house was comfortable and well lived in. He didn’t really know if it seemed like the kind of place that Bones would decorate himself, but maybe he didn’t. None of this should be possible anyways. They’d only been here for a week. It wasn’t until after Bones had ordered a pizza and eaten several slices that he finally allowed Jim to explain everything. Jim hadn’t eaten much of the pizza, he kept thinking about how Bones should be bitching about all the weird chemicals people in this century put in their food and how they were certainly going to get cancer from it. It left him without much of an appetite. Finally, Bones started on a batch of chocolate chip cookies which absolutely meant that he wasn’t looking forward to this conversation - the amount of times at the beginning their relationship in which Bones had insisted on baking during uncomfortable conversations was outstandingly high - and he requested that Jim “get on with it.” So he did.

Bones didn’t look at him the whole time as Jim explained everything, or at least everything he thought was relevant. He didn’t know why, but he left out the bit where they were married. He was pretty sure Bones was going to call him crazy, and he just didn’t want their marriage to be a part of that. He could handle Bones thinking he was crazy, but he was pretty sure if his husband thought their relationship was crazy it was just going to hurt like a bitch. So he did what he did best and avoided that emotional minefield entirely.

By the time Jim finished with the story, Bones was dropping balls full of cookie dough on a large metal pan. He still wasn’t looking at Jim, in fact the only reason Jim knew he hadn’t gone temporarily deaf was that he had hummed at all the right places during the story. Finally, unable to wait any longer, Jim asked,

“So, do you believe me or what?”

Finally Bones turned around, leaned against the counter and, expression guarded, said,

“I believe you believe you.”

“You’ve always been good at sniffing out bullshit.”

“Yes, but just because you’re not lying to me doesn’t mean you’re telling me the truth.”

Oh, good, Bones thought he was off his rocker. This was just wonderful.

“How do you explain, then,” Jim asked, “All the things I know about you.”

Bones pulled a hand through his dark hair, streaking it with flour as he did so. He sighed.

“I don’t know, but listen, Jim, you have to understand that what you’re telling me sounds…”

“Insane?” Jim guessed when Bones paused, obviously trying to search for the least offensive word to end that sentence with.

“I wasn’t gonna say that,” Bones mumbled, “I was going to say, it sounds impossible. Spaceships, time travel, aliens...it’s all just a lot to take in.”   


“I understand,” Jim said, even though he didn’t. For him, it was all pretty par for the course. Sure, this was a bit of a weird one but if he told this story to anyone in the 23rd century they wouldn’t think he was insane for it. Insane obviously had a different standard here.

“So, what’s your plan here anyways?” Bones asked, going back to placing balls of cookie dough on the pan.

“Well, if anyone else from my ship is here I need to find them. And then I need to figure out some way to contact the ship. Not sure how much good that’ll do if this really is the past, though, time travel is really tricky to nail down specific time points.”   


“What do you mean if this really is ‘the past’?”

Jim didn’t want to explain to Bones his forming theory that this may not actually be the early 21st century but rather some hyper realistic illusion that the so-called “time guardian” was tricking them with. Admittedly he was mostly clinging to that theory because it seemed easier to solve, but still. He didn’t want to freak Bones out more by telling him he thought the only world he thought he’d ever known was just an illusion.

“Nothing, don’t worry about it,” Jim said and Bones laughed a little under his breath,

“Okay, I won’t. So what’s your plan in the meantime then? Have you just been sleeping under an overpass the past week then?”

“A what?” Jim asked, then shook his head and decided he didn’t care, “Nevermind. No, mostly I’ve been hustling pool in shitty bars to make money for hotel rooms that are gonna give me diseases my CMO is gonna  _ kill me _ for.”

“Hustling pool? Kid, you’re gonna get beat up for that if you’re not careful.”

Something inside of Jim sparked alive at Bones calling him kid, just like he always had. The nickname didn’t make a lot of sense anymore, not with Jim in his early 30s, and he couldn’t help but wonder if there was a tiny part of Bones’ subconscious that recognized Jim. Especially because he was pretty sure that if some actual random person told his husband everything he’d just said, Bones would’ve kicked them out on the street in a second. He didn’t tolerate bullshit well.

“Jim, I…” Bones cleared his throat, still looking somewhere in the middle distance, “If you don’t have anywhere to go tonight, you’re welcome to my couch.”

That caught Jim a bit off guard, and more than anything that helped him know that the Bones who loved him and remembered him was still in there. His husband wasn’t exactly the most inherently trusting man, and yet he had no problem with a so-called stranger staying in his house all night. Jim decided not to point this out, out of worry that if Bones thought about it too much then he would rescind his offer. But he couldn’t help but ask,

“Are you serious?”

“If you were gonna kill me you’d’ve done so already. You better not make off with all my stuff in the morning, but the couch is all yours if ya want it. That is, if your spouse won’t mind.”

“He won’t mind if you don’t mind, I promise,” Jim said, smiling to himself, “Thanks, Bones.”   


“Bones? Right, that’s me, isn’t it?”

Jim felt himself blushing, which really he did not do easily. He couldn’t guess why this of all things made him do so.

“It’s just a stupid nickname. I’ll try to stop. Leonard.”

Bones’ actual name felt a bit odd coming off Jim’s tongue. It wasn’t that he never said Bones’ real name, it was just rare. Bones was  _ Bones _ . Sometimes Dr. McCoy if they were working, thought mostly only if they were in front of a superior officer. He wasn’t accustomed to calling Bones Leonard. In fact, the reason why Jim had immediately decided that Bones needed a nickname was that he didn’t particularly feel like Leonard suited the other man.

“Len? Leo?” Jim tried the shorter versions out, knowing that Bones would respond to either. And, well, he probably would’ve settled on one of those if “Bones” hadn’t immediately struck him. Neither felt quite right rolling off his tongue.

“I don’t really care what you call me, Jim,” Bones sighed and placed the cookies in his old timey oven, “Just don’t rob me blind and we’ve got ourselves a deal.”

Jim wondered if there was a time limit on this offer, but he supposed that was a problem for another time. He hoped they would be back on the Enterprise with Bones’ memories fully intact, this whole experience nothing but another quirky story by the time Bones got sick of having a house guest or it started to break Jim having to share a space with his husband who didn’t have a single memory of him. He tried not to think of that now, though. For now, he had a warm place to sleep in this strange century, he probably wasn’t going to pick up any venereal diseases just from sitting down in here like he thought he may have in the other places he’d stayed, and he had Bones. Because, without a doubt, memory-less Bones was better than no Bones. He’d figure out the rest later.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy chapter 2! :)

Jim wasn’t used to sleeping on the couch, especially weirdly uncomfortable 21st century couches. The way he saw it, there was no way Bones himself actually picked this couch out because he would never have chosen form over function like this. But really, Jim wasn’t used to sleeping on  _ any _ couch. He and Bones weren’t really a “I’m mad, you have to sleep on the couch” couple. That may actually have a lot to do with the fact that the couch in their quarters back on the Enterprise was both small and uncomfortable so if they were going to bed angry, which really didn't happen that often, they would just sleep back to back on the bed together because neither was ever so mad as to force the other to suffer through the sleepless night that couch would provide. But this was different, Bones didn’t know him here, sharing a bed would just be imposing more than he already was.

But that was the thing, Bones  _ did _ know him. Jim knew his husband pretty damn well at that point. They’d been inseparable for  _ years _ , practically joined at the hip long before they had a romantic relationship, and he knew that if a stranger came up to the man and insisted that they know each other, the last thing he’d do was invite him to stay in his house. Sure, Bones would give some random person on the street the shirt off his back if they looked like they could use it, but he was a bit protective of his space. The fact that Jim had been allowed in like this surely meant that there was some part of Bones, no matter how unconscious, that recognized him and trusted him. And that was enough for now. It had to be, because if Jim let himself think too much about the look in Bones’ eyes when he’d ask if they knew each other, then it would probably break his heart. So he didn’t think about it, but lying on this strange hard couch in this strange world, that was a hell of a lot easier said than done.

Jim woke up to the sound banging in the kitchen, cracked his eyes open, and saw his husband loudly making breakfast, already wearing a pair of scrubs, a scowl set deep in his features. It was still early, if the soft light peaking through the windows was anything to go off of, and Jim’s first instinct was to grump at Bones for waking him up. This wasn’t exactly typical. Bones was, first of all, just about the furthest thing from a morning person. But also, after all their years of sharing a space, first as roommates and then as partners, they’d learned how to be quiet around each other. If Bones let his beta shift run into gamma  _ again _ , usually Jim didn’t even notice his husband crawling into bed with him. So he wasn’t exactly used to being woken up by Bones banging around in the kitchen, although he wasn’t exactly used to anything about this situation.

“Oh my God, why are you so loud?” Jim groaned, rubbing at his eyes and sitting up on the couch. His back cracked as he did so. Damn, he sure as hell was not 20 anymore, a fact that his body saw fit to remind him off with increasing regularity ever since he hit about 25.

“Oh, is the stranger I let sleep on my couch bitching about accommodations?” Bones asked.

“Your incredibly uncomfortable couch, yes. Why’d you buy this thing anyways?”

“You keep talkin’ like that and you can just leave,” Bones stated with none of the playful teasing that Jim had been for some reason expecting. Because of course there wouldn’t be. Usually he and Bones could be on each other, going back and forth like this without so much as a thought, but Bones didn’t remember that. All he heard was the stranger he’d graciously let stay overnight in his house wake up bitching about it. This wasn’t the same. Of course it wasn’t.

“Sorry,” Jim said finally, “And thank you. As you can see, I neither killed you nor robbed you blind.”

“Much appreciated,” Bones grunted as he poured what appeared to be pancake batter onto a pan on that old fashioned stove. Of course he was baking again. Clearly this situation made him uncomfortable, and the man certain had his tells. Jim didn’t like that his presence here was causing his husband stress, but didn’t really see a way around it at this point. Or, well, maybe he did, he probably could figure this out on his own, but he didn’t want to and selfishly refused to consider it.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” he offered, knowing all the while Bones would say no. The man liked the process of baking and cooking, even back on the Enterprise where they had food synthesizers, and he liked it even more when he was stressed.

“Nah, I don’t want you and your so-called spaceman hands all over my stove. You sit your ass on the couch.”

“Ya know I’m not  _ from _ space, right? I work in space, but I’m  _ from _ Iowa. Well, actually I was born in space, so I guess the argument could be made, but it’s not like I remember that. But, my point is I’m just as human as you are.”   


“Oh, good, I was worried next thing I knew you were gonna be telling me I was actually a Martian or some shit.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Bo...Len, there’s no native life on Mars.”

“Oh, how silly of me,” Bones rolled his eyes and Jim smiled and hummed as his husband flipped another pancake.

Finally, after a stiff silence, Bones cleared his throat and asked,

“So, what’d you say the name of your little ship was again?”

“It’s not a ‘little’ ship.” Jim felt that odd sense of annoyance he always got whenever anyone insulted his baby, even when it was his husband.

“Oh, this better not be a euphemism for your dick,” Bones grumbled and Jim cackled, he couldn’t help himself. It was so damn like something his Bones, the Bones who remembered him, would say, he just couldn’t help himself. The man in question rolled his eyes and huffed out a breath.

“Fine,” Jim sighed, seeing that Bones’ joking mood had left as quickly as it had come, “I don’t think I called it anything, actually, but it’s the Enterprise. Why do you ask?”

“Uh, no reason,” Bones said, but he was looking sort of pale and ashy all of a sudden. “That’s a common ship name, right?”   


“Sure, ‘suppose so. There were several old naval ships by that name, and an old starship too although you wouldn’t know about that I guess.”

Bones simply hummed, but didn’t elaborate further. Jim decided to drop it and leave the man alone for the time being, at least until the pair sat together at Bones’ table eating pancakes as Bones doodled something on some old paper newspaper with some ancient pen.

“What’re you drawing?” Jim asked, stealing a glance over at the paper while Bones was up getting more pancakes. His husband wasn’t the best artist in the galaxy and he wasn’t really planning on recognizing whatever was being doodled on that paper. So when he saw the hastily sketched delta with a starburst in the center, his heart briefly stopped.

“Where the hell have you seen this?” he asked quickly, his mouthful of pancakes as Bones headed back to the table.

“I’m just doodling,” Bones grumbled, “Mind your own damn business.”

Jim reached into his pockets, fished out his badge, and slapped it on the table,

“Leonard, where the hell have you seen this?”

Bones gaped, staring wordlessly at the command division badge on the table.

“You have one too, but the design in the center is different. More like this,” Jim grabbed the newspaper and pen and drew the circular science division insignia next to Bones’ own drawing. As for Bones, he just blinked slowly, several times, before finally clearing his throat,

“This is gonna sound crazy.”

“Well, you already think I’m there so I don’t think I’ll have a problem with it.”   


“I’ve been havin’ these...dreams…”

“Okay?” Jim asked, when Bones trailed off and didn’t pick back up again. His husband looked intensely awkward, moreso than he’d seen him in a long time. He was pushing pancakes around on his plate as he continued speaking,

“They’re just...flashes of things. Images. Long corridors, dark windows, bright rooms. Generic shit, mostly. The past coupla nights, though, I’ve been getting more. That symbol I drew, and the one you did too. The word 'Enterprise'. Bold colored shirts. And  _ stars _ .”

“Bones, you know what this means, right?!” Jim asked excitedly, the nickname just slipping out despite his promise to himself not to say it aloud until Bones remembered that was referring to him. 

“No clue, kid.”

“Come on, you have to see it. You’re remembering! Somewhere inside your mind you still remember the life we had before!”

“I dunno about that one. This doesn’t necessarily prove shit.”

Jim sighed. God, his husband could be a stubborn son of a bitch when he wanted to. Which was most of the time. Bones was a skeptic through and through, and it was a whole ordeal to get him to accept any fact that was outside his defined worldview. It didn’t really surprise Jim that Bones wasn’t willing to be persuaded quite yet, but it was disappointing nonetheless.

“What’s your explanation for this, then?” Jim challenged, crossing his arms over his chest. “Don’t try to pretend this didn’t throw you. I  _ know  _ you, and you’re really not good at hiding your emotions anyhow.”

“I don’t have one,” Bones admitted, “But it could be a lot of things. A lot of reasonable, realistic,  _ possible _ things. Me havin’ weird dreams the past week doesn’t prove anything.”

“Maybe you’re going crazy too.”   


“I have actually considered that.”   


“I was just kidding, Len. Sorry, I don’t actually think you’re, ya know, losing your grip on reality. Although coming from someone you think hasn’t seen their own grip on reality in a while that may not help that much.”

Bones sighed, ran his fingers through his already messy hair, then grabbed his plate and stood up,

“I told ya, Jim, I was never trying to call you crazy. I’ve gotta head to work, you can stick around. If you want. As long as you don’t burn the goddamn house down. You can stay as long as you want.”

“If you’re sure,” Jim said, not sure why he was looking a gift horse in the mouth. Bones being here memoryless didn’t really help him much in his quest to get them both back to the Enterprise, but he couldn’t argue with a stable roof over his head. And just having Bones with him at all was helpful, even if Bones wasn’t exactly  _ helping _ and didn’t know Jim from some random man on the street, even though that still  _ hurt _ .

“I’m sure,” Bones nodded, because really when had the man ever offered something he hadn’t already made his mind up on? “Look, I dunno what’s going on here, and I ain’t saying I believe you, but the past week, and especially the past 12 hours, have been weird as hell. You being here might not be helping anything, but it probably ain’t hurting either. So you can stay. Just don’t break my shit, and don’t make me stitch you up after you lose a bar fight when someone catches you hustling pool.”

“Ugh, stitches,” Jim shuddered. He’d only had them once, in a rather strange situation where he and Bones had been stuck on a planet and Bones didn’t have his medkit and had to make due with supplies he could get from a local shop. He didn’t enjoy the experience. At all.

“Don’t get hurt and you won’t need any,” Bones said, which really was a Bones thing to say if he’d ever heard one. He rolled his eyes and laughed a little. “I’ll see you later tonight?” 

It was a question. Bones wanted to know if he’d still be around. And while Jim wasn’t 100% sure of his plan for the day, he knew that as long as Bones would have him it would involve him back under this roof by the evening. So he nodded and shot his husband a smile,

“See you tonight. Good luck at work. And thanks again. Really.”

“Don’t mention it,” Bones mumbled in that gruff way he did when he was trying to hide vulnerability. It was...odd. This morning had been weird. Really, this whole week had been weird, but he couldn’t figure out where he and Bones stood right now. But if there was one thing Jim was  _ always _ sure about, it was that he stood next to Bones. Always, every day, and regardless of how much the other man remembered. Although he really hoped, more than anything else, that this wouldn’t last long. He longed to hold Bones in his arms again, to talk like normal, but for now he was going to take what he could get. He always would, where Bones was concerned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah there was a little The One With The Whales reference in there. Not sorry.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's right, I'm back with more of this. It's been a while, but here we go again. :)
> 
> Enjoy!

It didn’t take Jim long to realize that he was stuck, and not long after that he realized he was bored out of his goddamn mind. Bones, for some inexplicable reason, didn’t exactly live downtown in San Francisco. The idea of Bones in an old country home always worked in Jim’s mind, but Bones in the suburbs just didn’t seem to click. It was irritating, though, because Jim wanted to go into town. Finding Bones had been one of his top priorities, and now that he knew where his husband was it would be easier to focus on getting them all home. And maybe he’d run into other members of the Enterprise crew around here, although he wasn’t exactly holding his breath. Bones was very predictable, and Jim knew him better than he knew himself at this point, but in a city of nearly a million people it would be a lot harder to find anyone else. A large part of Jim was hoping that it was just him and Bones here anyways. It would be easier than having to round everyone up, and he felt better thinking of the Enterprise safe in Spock’s capable hands rather than just floating around empty in space.

He and Bones would get home eventually, though. Jim wasn’t sure how yet, but then again he wasn’t even certain on when and where they were, which made that more complicated. But he still didn’t believe in no-win scenarios, and felt certain that they’d figure their way out of this one eventually. His first priority, he figured, would be contacting the ship, which was a lot easier said than done as his communicator hadn’t been on him when he woke up here. Maybe he could build something with the right materials, which led him to the issue with not being able to leave Bones’ house. They weren’t, as far as he could tell, within walking distance of much of anything and he’d discovered pretty early on that for some inane reason public transportation cost money here, and he had exactly none of that. Bones had taken the car, and hadn’t offered him any cash, let alone told him where it was, so he was pretty much stuck sitting around Bones’ house, or, well, the house that supposedly was Bones’, all day until his husband got home. And he was bored. 

There wasn’t a lot to do in the past. Jim poked around Bones’ house for a while, intruding on his husband’s privacy in a way that probably would’ve been rude if they truly were near strangers or if Bones himself had put literally anything in his home himself. That was one thing that became more clear as Jim wandered around, looking in drawers and closets. It all felt rather generic, there was no touch of his husband on anything in this house, down to the fact that the place didn’t even seem to contain anything more than bandages and some mild old fashioned pain killers by way of a first aid kit. Bones would be more prepared than this. Or paranoid. Whatever. But there weren’t any family pictures, no books on medical history or weird diseases, no bottles of top shelf bourbon, no anything that he’d always pictured Bones insisting their future home on earth feature. Jim had accepted long ago that he was a bit of a sap when it came to Bones, and he embraced it, so yeah even though he was dead set on staying on the Enterprise until they physically removed him, sometimes he liked to daydream about retiring to an old country home with his husband, something with a wrap around porch and maybe some horses. This was not that, and it was a bit irritating if he was being honest.

Jim tried to do something productive, but it was hard while being trapped in this not-right house. He brainstormed what he needed to make a functional communicator that could reach the Enterprise if they were indeed still in the same time as when they left, ate more than a few of the cookies Bones had baked the night before, and eventually ended up taking a nap on Bones’ bed. If Bones had come home Jim probably would’ve gotten his ass kicked right out of the house for sleeping with his face buried in Bones’ pillow, but Bones didn’t come home, and Jim missed him. Any Bones was better than no Bones, he’d die on that hill, but God did he miss Bones having all his memories, the Bones who remembered and loved Jim. Fuck, he promised himself he wasn’t going to let himself think about this for too long. Groaning, he pushed himself out of bed and trudged downstairs to figure out how to work the old television. At least that would give him something to do.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Jim would recognize his husband’s voice anywhere, but he still turned around so fast he nearly spilled his bag of chips all over the couch.

“Thought you said I could stay here.”

“I mean what the hell are you watching?” Bones clarified. Jim, admittedly, wasn’t sure. Bones had gotten back late, which normally didn’t bother him. Who was he to begrudge that his hot doctor partner was late coming home because he was too busy saving someone’s life? And, in any case, they were both workaholics so it wasn’t like he could judge. But today, when he was pretty much stuck here until Bones got home, it had been annoying. He’d been watching something incredibly stupid on the television for hours, after rooting through Bones’ kitchen for snacks. At least this odd house had a decent food selection.

“I dunno,” Jim shrugged, “Seems to be some sort of odd show about people who marry virtual strangers from other countries for immigration purposes. It doesn’t really make any sense, but maybe I just need to brush up on my history. It’s really dumb, I’ve been watching it for hours.”

Bones snorted and rolled his eyes, “Okay, sure. You’ve been watching reality television in my house all day.”

“To be fair, I was going to go into town but you live weirdly far away from everything, you took the car, and I don’t have any money. Speaking of money, can I borrow some cash?”

“What for?”

“Oh, ya know, future shit.”

“If you don’t tell me I’m going to just assume you’re planning on spending it on drugs and strippers.”

Jim laughed, trying to ignore the pang in his chest whenever Bones said something that was just so  _ his  _ Bones. “Okay, I need to get into town and I need parts to build a way to contact the ship. None of these parts are drugs, and I don’t need to  _ pay _ to get people to take their clothes off for me.”

“And I take it your husband wouldn’t approve,” Bones guessed and Jim shot him a wry smile,

“Yeah, I’d assume not.”

“Fine, I’ll leave you a credit card. You know how to use one of these?” Bones asked, handing him a small plastic card. Jim stared down at it, then back up at Bones. He wasn’t going to make Bones second guess himself, or go back on his first instinct to trust Jim and help him no matter what, but if what Jim knew of early 21st century history was correct - which, fine, was a lot from old movies - Bones had just given him pretty much unlimited access to his money. Him, a supposed stranger he’d known for 24 hours. Jim had won over Bones pretty quickly, but his husband didn’t trust this fast. He just didn’t.

“Uh, yeah,” Jim nodded, sure he could figure it out, and not wanting to push the subject too much, “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” Bones said gruffly. Jim wasn’t planning on it. He was constantly afraid that if he mentioned how odd it was for Bones to trust a “complete stranger” like this, then Bones would start thinking about it too much and he’d end up kicked out. He couldn’t deal with that, refused to let it come to that. “Have you just sat around all day waiting for me to come home like a puppy?” Bones asked.

“I have been compared to a golden retriever on occasion.”

“By who? Me?”

“Yeah, mostly,” Jim shrugged, “Computer, turn off television.”

“That ain’t how that works, kid,” Bones laughed. 

“I know, force of habit, sorry,” Jim said, grabbed the remote and shut off the TV. “I did spend a lot of the morning brainstorming. Went for a walk. The air here is  _ horrible _ , by the way. I feel like you shouldn’t be able to taste the air, that doesn’t seem right. Anyways, how was work?”

“You don’t wanna hear about weird medical shit.”   


“ I do when it’s your weird medical shit.”

Dammit, Jim really had to pull back a little, everything about how he said that was way too intimate and weirdly open. If he wasn’t going to tell Bones they were married, because he was still convinced Bones’ reaction to that would absolutely  _ shatter _ him, he had to stop acting so much like they were.

Thankfully, Bones didn’t seem too phased by it, and proceeded to spend the next little while bitching about this and that, while making the two of them dinner. Jim felt like he should be doing more to help with that, and resolved that the next day he was going to poke around in this old timey kitchen until he figured out how to use it without catching anything on fire.

Bones joined Jim on the couch after dinner, offered him a bottle of beer, and flipped on the TV to some comedy show that was mostly making jokes about world events that weren’t significant enough for history to remember them. It was just this side of normal to the point where it was painful, and Jim very nearly flopped over casually onto Bones’ lap, or threw an arm around his shoulder, or any of the other points of contact they’d basically been doing ever since they became friends. Jim had always been touchy, and Bones had always allowed it, had even leaned into it, but now Bones supposedly had no idea who he was, and he wasn’t about to push boundaries. So he fiddled with the label on his beer bottle, tried to figure out the context to the jokes on the show, and kept his damn hands to himself. 

It all seemed to be going fine, or at least fine enough for a time when Jim had to constantly remind himself that this wasn’t actually normal, until Bones asked out of nowhere,

“So, what exactly am I to you anyways?”

Jim nearly choked on his beer.

“Huh?”

“I mean who am I to you? In your…” Bones started to explain but trailed off, obviously still unsure how exactly to explain Jim’s story out loud, or even in his own mind.

“You mean in my crazy fantasy world?” Jim guessed, without malice. It hurt, but he didn’t necessarily begrudge Bones for not believing him. Not when all he had to go on was the word of a man he had no memories of. He probably wouldn’t have believed Bones either, had their situations been reversed.

“I never said that, dammit,” Bones grumbled, though he had never refuted it either. “I’m just tryin’ta put together the pieces of what you say my life should be.”

Well, that was reasonable, and Jim could hardly deny him such a request even though just talking about all of this with a Bones who didn’t know Jim from Adam was still fresh and raw and painful.

“You’re a lot of things to me,” Jim said, holding himself back from saying “everything”. “Best friend, CMO, voice in the back of my head that tells me not to do dumb shit, etc.”

“CMO?”

“Chief Medical Officer. You’re the head ship’s doctor. I can’t even tell you how many times you’ve saved my ass.”

“Well, at least you ain’t trying to tell me I’m some sorta crazy space pilot.”

“Oh no, you hate flying. You’re better now than you used to be, but you threw up on me in the shuttle the first time we met,” Jim laughed at the memory. He couldn’t not. Yeah, some people thought it was a bit odd that he latched on so hard to the guy who puked on his shoes, but Jim had seen a kindred spirit in Bones that day and had never looked back.

“And we’re friends anyways?” Bones asked, somewhat incredulously.

“Oh yeah. I’ve more than gotten you back at this point. You were drinking at 7 am, I had just been in a bar fight, our messes were complimentary. Then you snuck me onto a starship a few years later, that was fun.”

“I sound like a great friend,” Bones teased but Jim nodded solemnly in response, 

“Yeah, the best. More than I could ask for or really deserve. We trust each other implicitly and I think…” Jim trailed off for a moment before deciding that he was just going to commit to it, dammit, “I think on some level you’re aware of that.”

Bones was just looking at him, eyes wide open and unflinching in that way Jim  _ knew _ he never was with anyone else and something squeezed tightly in Jim’s chest. God, he wanted so badly to just lean in and…

“Jim, in your, ya know...did we ever…” Bones started, pulling Jim away from his thoughts that were turning dangerous, then trailing off without finishing the thought.

“Did we ever what?” Jim asked, even though he thought maybe he knew what Bones was going to ask about. Or maybe it was just wishful thinking on his end.

“Nevermind,” Bones shook his head and pulled his eyes away from Jim’s, finally but all too soon. Bones sighed deeply then stood up, “I’m gonna hit the hay, it’s been a long day. Please don’t rob and murder me as I sleep.”

Jim couldn’t help but laugh at that and Bones gave him half a smile back before his husband turned around and headed upstairs. Well that had been...odd. And altogether too close to the time right before they started dating. Shit, Jim  _ really _ had to pull back a bit, or it would get much messier very quickly. Sighing dramatically, he flopped back on the couch and smacked himself in the face with a nearby pillow. Maybe he should just tell Bones, but he couldn’t help but wonder if he was in too deep for that already, even after only a day. Fuck, Jim didn’t know. Maybe sleep would give him some clarity. Or maybe it would just give him a back ache and an appreciation of the blackout windows in the 23rd century. At this point, each seemed just about as likely as the other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have never and will never promise regular update schedules, my ADHD brain just sort of writes whatever it wants whenever it wants. But this and my other open WIP that I've posted are pretty much top of my mental list right now, so hopefully it won't be as long before there's a new chapter lol


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